‘A perfect fit for me’

Landwehr found Hallock on a whim, and now leaves with great fulfillment for having served

By Anna Jauhola
Coming to Hallock was a culture shock with the uffdas and the oh-fer-cutes, but once fellow pastors helped her acclimate, Pastor Marge Landwehr found herself loving northern Minnesota.
She started her first and only 13-year career at First Presbyterian Church on April 1, 2012.
“Well, God has a sense of humor, too, you know,” Landwehr said with a laugh. “I had the robe on and the stole and it was a warm day, as I recall.”
Despite 2012 exhibiting some abnormally warm weather early in the year, she also recalled that winter showed her the brutal chill – her first October brought 30-below temperatures.
“I had no heavy clothes, you know, coming from California,” Landwehr said. “The Sunday I was leaving California, (my church) knew I was going to Minnesota, so everybody brought in hats, scarves, mittens, and they piled all this stuff on and I was very grateful.”
Soon, she can leave those thoughts of cold and heavy clothes mostly behind as she enters retirement and moves to Tennessee. Her last day is Sunday, Aug. 31. Despite the cold winters, Landwehr found her first and only pastoral position perfectly endearing, warm and welcoming.
“My college education was in education,” she said with a laugh. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get to use that much because when I got out of school and moved back to New Jersey, they were cutting back in classrooms. So I worked for my father who had a restaurant.”
At the age of 40, Landwehr went to Texas where she worked for a couple of companies but also found a home at a Presbyterian church where she joined the choir. This is the beginning of her journey toward becoming a pastor.
“I became friends with one of the ladies in the choir who was going off to seminary and she said, ‘You know, there’s a degree that I think is perfect for you.’ I was like, ‘OK,’” Landwehr said.
She entered Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., at the age of 53 and completed her degree for worship theology in the arts, but she didn’t want to direct a choir or similar pursuits. Prayer on her own behalf and from her friends led her to become a pastor. So she completed the master of divinity program, also at Fuller Theological Seminary.
When she graduated, Landwehr began searching for a position as a pastor, and she came across an ad for a pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Hallock, Minn. Oddly enough, her brother had once worked for Land O’Lakes agricultural division and served the Hallock area, so she asked him what he remembered about the town. He gave a positive review so she applied for the job. She was nearly 60 when she took the job in Hallock.
“There were three or four people in the office for the first interview. It just felt like I was talking to friends,” Landwehr said of her first visit to Hallock. “When I came out again and interviewed with the congregation, I can only say it was by God’s grace this just seemed like a perfect fit for me. That’s one of the things, when you leave seminary, you just hope you’ll find a church that’s a perfect fit.”
Throughout her years at First Presbyterian Church, Landwehr didn’t only serve as the pastor, she found friendship and community, and a sense of self besides. She knew she wasn’t going to flip things head-over-heels in one day, but found she could find a middle ground to implement new ideas. While a few things were hard nos, the congregation and personnel committee certainly welcomed ideas such as special services with themes including Dr. Seuss, Mr. Rogers, Harry Potter and Bright Sunday.
“Bright Sunday goes back centuries. It was usually the Monday after Easter,” she said. “We don’t worship that Monday, so we do the Sunday after Easter. The first one we did, I said, ‘You can come in your pajamas. Dress up, dress down, whatever.’”
And people did it, along with different activities in the fellowship hall as well. The tradition has continued, and she gave a few examples. Florence Hagen and Shirley Sugden came dressed up in a bathrobe and a crazy hat one year. While Dorothy Berg came dressed as a farmer, complete with straw hat and a hoe. Others weren’t so comfortable with this, but came in brightly colored shirts.
For the Harry Potter themed worship, congregants took a test on the internet to see which house they’d be assigned to, then sat in the area of the sanctuary accordingly. These different worships were Landwehr’s way to bring congregants to attention, get them more involved and looking forward to church.
“The congregation has been so lovely to accept my weirdness to want to do these things,” Landwehr said. “And we just have a great time with that.”
During her time in Hallock, Landwehr has also found a sense of community and how to be an individual separate from her pastoral duties. Kathy Levenhagen, a local synodically authorized minister, helped explain nuances of the area, which definitely helped her acclimate. She has found many friends through her congregation, but also many outside of it. A big part of being in the community came in her volunteering at the Hallock Public Library – reading books at story time, shelving books and manning the front desk. She loved working with the kids and got to know some parents and grandparents, which got her more in tune with the community. Her favorite part was making friends, and finding a confidant.
“I think every pastor needs somebody that they can just talk to, and I didn’t have any friends or family around, so I had to find that one person. And Peggy was it,” Landwehr said of Librarian Peggy Pearson. “I’m going to miss Peggy. I told her, ‘You’ve been my saving grace.’”
From the beginning, she’s loved the slower pace that comes with living in Kittson County. The ease of visiting with people at the post office and the grocery store, really knowing people even if you don’t know them well.
She has learned something new every day, including how to stop worrying so much, to relax and get into the flow of things.
So when it came time for her annual review this year with the personnel committee, without hesitation, she said it is time to retire. With tears in her eyes, Landwehr said she’s loved her time in Hallock and it was hard to tell the congregation in January that she planned to retire. She noticed tears in their eyes too. While most wanted her to stay to continue serving the congregation, others told her, “You can’t leave. You have to do my funeral.”
“I said, ‘Well don’t go and die just because I’m leaving!” Landwehr said. “I know there will be tears, but right now I’m just trying to get everything coordinated, so I haven’t had time to sit down and focus on that. But it’s coming.”
She’s not rushing her way out, but Landwehr already has an apartment in Tennessee, close to old college friends. She hopes to find a church to join in time. Although hasn’t found a Presbyterian congregation yet, she’s eyed a Methodist church not far from her apartment.
She still has a little over two weeks before she leaves, but Landwehr will remain connected to the one and only church she’s ever pastored. She plans to Zoom with Peggy Pearson. She will continue to visit over the phone with friends who have meant so much to her. Perhaps she will also make her way back for a visit – after all, Shirley Sugden has said she’ll always have a room ready.
In the meantime, she’s looking forward to settling back into an apartment and enjoying warmer winters. All the while, she’ll carry Hallock and First Presbyterian with her as she finds her place back out in the world.